LAZY PEACH COBBLER

In“cooking From the Spirit,”tabitha Brown recounts a Thanksgiving dinner where a friend, a renowned Los Angeles baker, brought a traditional peach cobbler. Though it looked and smelled irresistibly good, it contained eggs and dairy and she had to abstain. But her friend vowed to help her figure out how to make it fit into her plant-based diet. Brown’s recipe is not only simple and delicious, but also conveys her conversational personality, with sprinkles of “honey” and “good Lord” in the instructions.

Coconut or avocado oil spray, for the pan

1 cup self-rising flour

½ cup granulated sugar

Pinch of ground cinnamon (add a little more if you want more, honey)

1 (7.4-ounce) can (¾ cup) sweetened condensed coconut milk

1 stick (8 tablespoons) vegan butter, melted

1 (29-ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9- or 10-inch deep-dish pie plate or square baking pan with oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the condensed milk and use a spoon to stir until no more bits of flour are visible and the ingredients come together to form a dough (this is a workout for your arm, honey).

Pour the melted butter into the prepared pie plate. Make sure the butter covers the bottom.

Transfer the dough to the pie plate. You can spread it out a little, but don’t worry about it if you don’t feel like it. The oven is going to do most of the hard work for us.

Pour the peaches with their syrup on top of the dough. Pour the vanilla on top and add a little more cinnamon there if you want to.

Bake until the peaches are browned on top and the crust is golden brown, 50 minutes to 1 hour. (Slide a sheet pan onto the rack below the cobbler while it bakes to catch any juices.)

Honey. Do you see and smell what the good Lord has done here?! Let it cool for a few minutes before scooping out servings so you don’t burn your tongue off!

Serves 6.

Per serving: 486 calories (percent of calories from fat, 34), 6 grams protein, 77 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 19 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 12 milligrams cholesterol, 443 milligrams sodium.

From “Cooking From the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-based Inspirations” by Tabitha Brown (Morrow, $30). Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of Harpercollins Publishers.

COURTESY OF MATT ARMENDARIZ A baker friend helped actress and vegan food star Tabitha Brown convert a dessert favorite into this recipe for Lazy Peach Cobbler to fit her plant-based diet. From Brown’s “Cooking from the Spirit.”